San Diego sheriff: Body appears to be missing ex-Naperville girl

March 02, 2010

SAN DIEGO -- The body of 17-year-old high school student Chelsea King, who lived with her family in Naperville until 2007, was believed to have been found today in a shallow grave near a lake not far from her northern San Diego County home, authorities said.

"There is a strong likelihood we have found Chelsea," Sheriff Bill Gore said at a Tuesday afternoon news conference, confirming the worst fears of the Poway High School senior's family and friends who had harbored hopes that she might still be alive.

King, a straight-A student and cross-country runner, had been missing since Thursday, when she went out for a run in hilly parkland near Lake Hodges, located near Escondido.

King's family lived in Naperville for 10 years before moving to Poway, a suburb of San Diego.

King, who was born in the San Diego area, attended Waubonsie Valley High School in 2006-07.

A convicted sex offender, John Albert Gardner III, 30, was arrested Sunday night in connection with King's disappearance and will be charged Wednesday, the San Diego County district attorney's office said.

King's disappearance prompted an outpouring of support in San Diego and beyond, with hundreds of people joining search efforts and more than 76,000 becoming fans of a Facebook page. Her parents, Brent and Kelly King, appeared on national news broadcasts expressing the belief that she was still alive.

In Naperville's West Wind Estates subdivision, where the King family called home when they lived in the city, former neighbors were heartbroken by the news.

Ann Rohr said she didn't realize the California tragedy affected her former neighbor Kelly King, the mother of Chelsea. She often chatted with Kelly King as they walked their dogs together.

Chelsea, who was a freshman at Waubonsie Valley High School, began to show promise with the French horn in the school band, Rohr said.

Another neighbor, who described herself as very close to the King family, said: "I can't talk about it right now. All of us are very upset right now."

Gardner had been linked to an attack in December on a 22-year-old woman in the same park where King disappeared. Gardner allegedly tackled the woman and demanded money. She escaped after hitting Gardner in the face, San Diego police said.

Gardner is registered as a sex offender and lives in Lake Elsinore in Riverside County, but he had been visiting his mother in Rancho Bernardo, just south of Lake Hodges, officials said.

Gardner served five years in connection with a 2000 attack on a 13-year-old girl, officials said.

After getting out of prison, he wore a global positioning system tracking device until his parole ended in 2008, Gore said.

Tribune reporter Will Lee and the Associated Press contributed to this report.